Sunday, August 29, 2010

I bought a huge head of cauliflower at the commissary this week because it just looked good to me. Then, I took it home and worried about it for the following 5 days every time I opened the fridge. I would see it sitting there and think, "What on earth am I going to do with this thing?" I found a lot of vegetarian recipes online for cauliflower, but the ones that sounded best were always soups...and the cauliflower soup recipes were all pretty similar to each other.

So here's what Eliza and I threw together. We didn't necessarily make up the recipe on our own. We read a lot of online recipes and watched a few videos...but they were honestly all very much alike. I'm not sure who to give credit to for this soup, actually. /shrug You will need a sturdy immersion blender or a REALLY good standing blender to do this properly. Just giving you fair warning before you get into it and realize I'm going to ask you to puree at the end.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup
1 large head fresh Cauliflower, cored and chopped down a bit
1 large Yellow Onion, sliced into thick pieces
2 large or 4 small yellow or white Potatoes (if you choose a potato type with skin too thick to blend, peel them. Otherwise, leave the skins on)
1 head Garlic, all cloves smashed, peeled, and chopped
1 stalk Celery, diced
6C Vegetable Broth or Bouillon
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large soup pot, heat 2T vegetable oil on medium high and then add the potato and onion. Salt to taste (be liberal with it), and stir everything around until you see brown marks on some of the onions. You will likely have bits sticking to the bottom of your pan. That's okay.

Once you have achieved browning on the onions, throw in the celery, garlic, and cauliflower. Stir it around until you smell the garlic from your pot. Add the broth and cover. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to medium. Uncover and stir, scraping up the delicious bits that were sticking to the bottom of the pan earlier. Cover the pot again and allow it to simmer for about 1/2 hour or until your potatoes and cauliflower are soft.

Using an immersion blender, puree the heck out of it until you have a smooth texture throughout. Serve in bowls with some nice crusty rolls. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a standing blender in batches or, I suppose, a food processor. If you cannot puree the soup, you could probably get a really nice-tasting concoction with the same ingredients I've used here by chopping your vegetables into more appropriate sizes from the beginning.

I love cauliflower, and Elizabeth says it's not as good as broccoli, but she "is a fan." We really liked this soup, and it was really easy to make. I'm pretty sure we'll eat it again.